In recent years, the flash apparatus has been widely employed in various kinds of optical apparatus which require light of the flash. Particularly, in the art of photography, artificial light is used to illuminate an object to be photographed. One form of artificial light which has been in wide use is the so-called electric flash device. In such devices, a flash tube is provided in order to illuminate the object to be photographed. The light from the flash tube can only be used to illuminate the object in order to take a picture. When the flash light from a photoflash is used to illuminate the object to be photographed, light and darkness appear on the photographic object in case there is uneveness on the surface of the photographic object. Furthermore, when the flash light from the photoflash is employed as a direct-light for illuminating the photographic object in a room or a photostudio, a shadow of the photographic object is formed behind the object and it is, therefore, not so preferable to take a picture in a practical use.
In order to eliminate the disadvantage of the photo-flash device, it is known to take a picture by using means for generating bounce light. In taking a picture by means of the bounce light, there are, however, still disadvantages in that the quantity of the light incident on the photographic object is lowered compared with the predetermined value, particularly when a reflecting surface, such as the surface of ceiling is not so white, and in that the photographic object cannot be photographed so well when there is unevenness on the surface of the object to be photographed because the reflected light from the object does not in part, become incident on the film of the camera.
To eliminate the above disadvantages, there are required various kinds of high price devices such as, for example, a front light, an umbrella-shaped bounce light and a back-light for removing the shadow appearing at the background of the photographic object. This results in a package which is sufficiently bulky so as to preclude its portability, and as well is costly and uneconomical.